1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shaped object adapted for being connected with a rim at a point located in the rim well, having a contact surface intended to rest on the rim well.
2. Description of Related Art
A shaped object known from EP 0 751 017 B1 has the form of a housing which contains a device for measuring the air pressure in a pneumatic tire mounted on the rim. The known housing is firmly connected with the base of a valve by screwing. The valve bore, through which air can be pumped into the tire, is configured for this purpose as a threaded bore, and the housing of the device for measuring the air pressure is provided with an oblong hole through which a hollow screw can be screwed into the thread of the valve bore. The screw is firmly tightened so that the housing is fixed on the base of the valve. The valve base is made from metal for this purpose and its outer shape is that of a spherical segment that fits into a recess in the housing of the device for measuring the tire pressure, which latter is designed as a complementary spherical cap for this purpose. In order to permit the housing to be supported on the rim well, the housing is provided on its side facing the rim well with two feet, which are provided with a contact surface that gets into contact with the rim well and by means of which the housing can be placed on the rim well. In order to ensure that the feet will actually reach the rim well even with rims of different shapes, the oblong hole permits the housing to be fixed on the valve base in different orientations relative to the lengthwise axis of the valve bore. This arrangement allows one and the same housing of the device for measuring the air pressure to be solidly mounted in wheels with rims of different configurations. However, it is a disadvantage of that arrangement that for mounting the housing an especially adapted valve is needed whose valve bore in the valve base is configured as a threaded bore for receiving a special screw with a through bore by means of which the housing can be screwed down on the valve base. The specially designed valve and the special screw with passage bore are expensive.
A wheel comprising a device for measuring the tire pressure is also known from DE 196 26 145 A1. In the case of that known wheel it is not the housing of the device for measuring the air pressure that is screwed down on the valve base, but rather a spring whose free end acts upon the housing so that the latter is clamped between the free end of the spring and the rim of the vehicle wheel in such a way that the housing comes to be supported, on the one hand, on the base of the rim well and, on the other hand, on two supporting points on the sidewall of the rim well. Thus, the spring urges the housing against both the bottom of the rim well and the sidewall of the rim well so that the housing is embraced by four sides, namely by the spring on two sides, by the rim well on one side and by the sidewall of the rim well on one side. It is a disadvantage of that arrangement that, just as in the case of the arrangement known from DE 0 751 017 B1, an expensive special screw with passage bore is required for fixing the spring on the valve base. And it is also a disadvantage that differently shaped springs are required for rims of different shapes to urge, and thereby fix, the housing against the rim.
It has also been proposed to fix the housing of a device for measuring the air pressure in pneumatic tires on the rim by means of a restraining strap that embraces the rim, lying on the rim well. However, such a restraining strap is connected with the disadvantage that a strap in combination with the necessary tumbuckle is relatively heavy, that for rims of different sizes it has to be individually shortened after tensioning, and that it may slacken under the influences of temperature and fatigue.